In recent years, a service provision model called Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) has been known, which provides a virtual desktop environment to a client from a server through a network. In DaaS, a file that has been used by a client is usually transferred to a server so as to be used by the server. Conventional technologies are described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 09-22398 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-312422, for example.
In a conventional form of DaaS, however, there is a problem in that the file transfer takes effort for a client to transfer a file used by the client to the server. For example, every time when the server uses the file used by the client, the client needs to specify the transfer source of the file to be transferred and the server as a transfer destination and then transfer the file to the transfer destination, thereby making the file transfer time-consuming for the client. In addition, the server provided to the client as a virtual desktop environment is usually changed every time when the server is provided. The client accordingly needs to specify the provided server as the transfer destination and then transfer the file to the transfer destination, whereby the file transfer is even more time-consuming for the client.
The remote desktop connection for Windows (registered trademark) has a function in which the file the client has used is not transferred to the server so that the server can directly access the file of the client. However, if a server directly accesses and updates a file of the client, a security problem is likely to occur. In addition, such an access to and/or update of the file of the client by the server may be prohibited due to settings of a firewall on the server side.